2010: End of year thoughts.

Here we are, together again.

Another year. Another decade.

Okay, I'll drop all the philosophical bullshit.

2010 had its ups and downs.

There were some ups.

I moved away from a sucky location. I hated where we lived. Okay, I loved our bedroom in our house. But I wasn't moving on anything I really wanted to do. Apart from family, I was living somewhere surrounded by people I largely didn't care about. Mostly they were my family's friends, but the truth was, I didn't really feel connected to any of them. Some people I had legitimate issues with. Admittedly most of them were fairly nice. Perhaps it's just my nature, but I don't really respond when people I know try to pick my friends for me. I'm instantly tuned out. Never mind that our politics may be similar, some of them might even like the same things I like - I didn't really seek them out, so as far as I was concerned, I never really dropped my guard, and resolved to maintain basic politeness, and nothing else.

At my job, things weren't much better.

Despite all the apparent 'success' at shipping a product and getting it certified by essentially a competitor, and working with very difficult (but gifted) people, it seemed I was unable to cash in on said 'success'. Now I don't claim to have been the driving force behind everything that went on to make things successful, but I did provide some direction and guidance in the areas I was responsible for. And of course, I was there to do the 'pick up the shit' others didn't want to do. And although my boss was a good guy, he wasn't really in any position to do much of anything when another manager at a higher level stepped in and began being abusive to me and others. He didn't stand up to the head of our organization and challenge him to to put a stop to this.

I did. At least I tried.

And when it was clear nothing was going to change, I simply spent my 'success' by getting a job and moving back to an area I'm a lot happier with.

Still that hasn't happened without some problems.

Some in the family weren't too happy with having their lives uprooted.

And yes we left a house behind that's now financially underwater,  that we're still paying for. Joy me.

And we brought an untrustworthy useless excuse of an animal with us. What a mistake that's been.

If it weren't for those last two, I'd almost be happy.

Anyways, I work in a pretty nice place. It's a much different environment in a famous company. And I get some free stuff every week that we get to enjoy. I have a really good boss - who really gets what I do, and really values my input and thought.

Despite the world being much shittier due to -

Costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Economic decline of the working and middle class
Loss of Internet freedom
No improvement in efforts to solving global warming

And lots more ... in my own life ...

... I never forget that could be a lot worse. Indeed it's a lot worse for many people.

But I still have my ideas. I still have my friends. I still have my goals and dreams. I still have my wits and the will to improve life for myself, my family, my friends.

So here's hoping 2011 is the year I take more steps to moving in that direction.

Definitive link between the US economic debacles of the last 50 years and the right-wing.

Read and weep -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/in-money-changers-we-trus_b_802174.html

This comment from 'MyTake' got my attention -

The President does not choose his key advisors and they have not done so since Carter.
Those key advisors are supplied by and drawn from the 4000 membership base of elites that comprise the NY Council on Foreign Relations.

Everything described in this article is, while accurate, just the symptom of the problem where the Corporate State has taken control of the U.S. Government­.

There is no use in flogging these individual names such as Rubin etc.. They are the symptom of the problem and you have to identify the core of the problem and spend you time drawing this single organizati­on out into public view.

Both Bush and Obama economic teams were supplied by the Council on Foreign Relations, David Rockefelle­r, Chairman Emeritus. That 4000 membership­, including the heads of Wall Street Corporatio­ns and heads of Corporate Media, if funded, organized and controlled by the Rockefelle­r Syndicate and their myriad of tax exempt Foundation­s.

Robert Rubin is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors at CFR and it is that Board that has supplied each incoming President with over 300 names for appointmen­t to their respective Administra­tions.
And when you examine the CFR interlocks with the two other organizati­ons known as the Trilateral Commission and the internatio­nal Bilderberg Group, you will see David Rockefelle­r as being the cornerston­e member of each of these groups.

Those three groups are the CORE of the problem. Get to them, expose them and protest them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateral_Commission

The common name among all of them is David Rockefeller, a 'A lifelong Republican and party contributor'.

There you have it - you know why the country is in an economic shambles? It's because of the people chosen from these organizations to run government (into the ground, apparently).

America’s Political Class Struggle - by Jeffrey D. Sachs.

An excellent article that summerizes succinctly where the economic and political future of the US is going if things currently unfolding, are allowed to continue.

Can you believe - the richest 1% of American households now has a higher net worth than the bottom 90%?

It's funny but the right-wing (as housed politically in this country by the Republican Party) is almost by design thinking like a corporation for their patrons. They cannot or do not see the long-term damage they are doing to their own interests by creating and encouraging an economic situation that will eventually collapse. This is no surprise - though perhaps the shocking part is the lack of more public discussion of this topic in the media.

Oh wait - that's not shocking either, since most of the media in this country is largely controlled by 5-6 large multi-national media conglomerates.

Still, it's nice to know I'm not the only person who thinks this way -

If this continues, a third party will emerge, committed to cleaning up American politics and restoring a measure of decency and fairness. This, too, will take time. The political system is deeply skewed against challenges to the two incumbent parties. Yet the time for change will come.

Real change will not come from within the system that society has set forth and created the very real problems we now face. Real change comes from society itself and specifically from those who can think, who can observe, who can learn, and who have the will and the courage to act to make it happen.

While I don't wish to disparage those of a conservative nature, I see the biggest obstacle in front of real positive progress for all is the American Right-Wing.

The real question for me is - will such change come in time to save us all from our own inevitable demise? How can people really effect real positive change on a global and person level, and all points in between?

Vantucky Nazis

I used to live in the Portland, OR area, specifically in the WA state area just north. The city is Vancouver, WA.


Its residents refer to is sometimes as 'The Couv'. Others called it 'Vantucky'.

Here's a strong reason for the latter ... (edit is mine)

http://rosecityantifa.weebly.com/1/post/2010/11/nazi-propaganda-on-vancouver-campus-administration-assists-spread.html

Nearly two weeks after the NSM flier distribution, Clark devoted its regularly scheduled "open dialogue" to the topic, on Monday, October 18.

Nathan Goncalves, NSM member and resident of Stevenson, Washington, claimed responsibility for distributing the fliers. He was given the first opportunity to speak to the room of 250 students, faculty, and community members. For three minutes he stood in front of the crowd in a full NSM uniform, boots, and a swastika armband, delivering a fascist recruiting message on behalf of the National Socialist Movement.

Earlier this month, Clark’s attorney general approved of a second round of neo-Nazi fliers to be posted on official college bulletin boards. These fliers delivered a message suggesting people of color are inferior to white people. (Clark College president) Knight defended the choice to grant space to the racist fliers.

I'm not sure which is worse - that the flier was distributed, or that the College allowed this Nazi group a forum to speak later.

Of course, if you search on the story, you'll find links where the right-wingers are out in full force defending this group's 'free speech', and the college's conduct. I don't think this is a free speech issue. Defaming (i.e. slandering or libeling) a person or persons of a specfic skin color I don't think is protected by the First Amendment.

It's pretty fucked up. A family friend's neighborhood in Vancouver was recently covered in swastikas.

How does one defend oneself or one's community against this? As best as I can figure, the only way to counter this is with fact-based free speech by society-at-large.

In response, over 100 students rallied on the campus on November 9 to promote diversity and oppose the actions of the College and the NSM.

College students appear to get this - will everyone else?

12-21-2010 - Red Letter Day in American History: The day the Internet became another corporate service; and the loss of political credibility of the Obama Adminstration.

Today in America, the Internet will become another corporate service, just like network television. Americans are in effect watching choice, and freedom of speech be handed over to large corporations.

Net Neutrality is dead. Happy Winter Solstice everyone! On the planet's darkest day come pretty dark news for the future.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/obama-fcc-caves-on-net-ne_b_799435.html

"For the first time in history of telecommunications law the FCC has given its stamp of approval to online discrimination.

Instead of a rule to protect Internet users' freedom to choose, the Commission has opened the door for broadband payola - letting phone and cable companies charge steep tolls to favor the content and services of a select group of corporate partners, relegating everyone else to the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

Instead of protecting openness on wireless Internet devices like the iPhone and Droid, the Commission has exempted the mobile Internet from Net Neutrality protections. This move enshrines Verizon and AT&T as gatekeepers to the expanding world of mobile Internet access, allowing them to favor their own applications while blocking, degrading or de-prioritizing others.

Instead of re-establishing the FCC's authority to act as a consumer watchdog over the Internet, it places the agency's authority on a shaky and indefensible legal footing -- giving ultimate control over the Internet to a small handful of carriers. "

Backseat to no one my ass.

How much would you like to bet that some of the members of the FCC after their terms are done, will find employment with some of the very large telecom companies they were supposed to watch over?

P.S.

Here's an interesting comment from called Birdman372537

Let Verizon and AT&T control the internet. Just tax their profits at 95%. Then



Tax capital gains as ordinary income


Tax yearly incomes over 250K progressiv­ely up to 90% over 2M;


Tax yearly church receipts in excess of 1M;


Eliminate the “carried interest compensati­on” tax code provision;


Increase SS benefits by 10%


Eliminate the ceiling on SS earnings;


Progressiv­ely eliminate SS benefits for those earning over 100K yearly in other income;


Tax stock transactio­ns over 1M in yearly aggregate;


Increase the estate tax on estates valued over 5M;


Tax luxury purchases on homes over 5M, cars over 50K, boats over 100K;


Eliminate the mortgage tax deduction on home mortgage debt over $250K


Double corporate income taxes and eliminate their offshoring tax and job loopholes;


Bring back a windfall profits tax up to 90%;


Legalize and tax illegal drugs;


Increase medicare/m­edicaid fraud detection budgets five-fold;


Decriminal­ize, regulate and tax most victimless crimes;


Eliminate farm and oil subsidies;


Tax all political contributi­ons over $3K from any source at 100%;


Bring the Iraq, AfPak troops home;


Subsidize university educations for worthy students;


Expand drug treatment availabili­ty;


Give medical and dental coverage to all those who need it;


Focus law enforcemen­t and incarcerat­ion on violent crime;






Time for the monied and monopolist­s to pay up. Put our wonderful country back on track.


Other than setting eliminating the mortgage tax deduction up to $500K instead of $250K, I'd say it's all on track.

Dogs in grocery stores

If I ever put together a list of people in the world who by and large constitute morons, pet owners would come somewhere near the top.

And really in America, we're talking mostly about dog-owners (followed closely behind by cat owners).

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying ALL pet owners are morons. And it's true that if one goes to a dog park, most of the owners of dogs are generally friendly, responsible, and have a genuine love of the animal. (Though it should be noted while I find some overlap and correlation,  that there is a difference between loving/appreciating animals, and being an owner. The latter requires responsibility.).

But I'm not ranting about those people.

• I'm talking about those people who let their dog bark for hours on end.
• I'm talking about people who cannot pick up their dog's shit, or worse, let them shit anywhere they like (like on other people's property).
• I'm talking about cat owners who let them scratch up their house or piss all over things.
• I'm talking about owners who let their animals dictate every action when they are at home.
• I'm talking about people who carry a small dog everywhere they go, including a place where food is available, like a restaurant, a grocery store or supermarket.

It's that last one I find very intolerable.

These people act so idiotically. I find most of them smug, and usually very self-absorbed. There is almost this sense of entitlement, as if their pet is their child.

Here's a dose of reality: Pets (i.e. animals) are not children. They do not equate.

Calling your little poodle a 'baby' is moronic.

So why is it on an almost regular basis, when I go to a grocery store, I find there is always someone carrying a dog? Why is this allowed?

Why can't society get a grip and pass laws that actually prevent this? I mean laws where a business' employees are trained to know whether an animal is helping someone with disability (instead of meekly asking and being forced to accept a fake 'yes').

It's not like that little dog being carried is actually aiding the person to do stuff (except perhaps be moronic) in the store.

Okay people with disabilities - that's different.

It's fucking unhygenic. That and the animals too.

What's the solution?

Happy Meals - the fucking bullshit we've always known them to be.‏

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/12/15/con-mcdonalds-suit.html

While I agree with the comments by some that the responsibility of children's health lies with parents, kids are relentless in demanding something they really want. You only need to give in once and it'll be etched in their minds, because that's how their marketing works. It's designed to rope children in and it's fucking manipulative.


I think it's completely appropriate to have laws in place to prevent corporations from using manipulative marketing practices to induce people to buy their products.

And if the plaintaiffs can show that the toys exist specifically to induce kids to get their parents to take them there (which I know has always been the singular reason they offer toys), then I'd love to see them take them to the cleaners, because there's apparently a law in the county where they are suing that appears to forbid this.

And on that note, I'd rather take our kids to an Applebees before ever stepping into a McDonalds dump again.